Piastri rues ‘disappointing end’ after crashing out of Qualifying in Baku

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri intends to “claw back” positions in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after suffering his worst Qualifying performance of the season, hitting the wall in the final segment of an incident-filled session.

The Australian added his name to the list of drivers who endured the consequences of the tricky conditions in Baku as he carried too much speed and found himself unable to make the apex at Turn 3, instead ploughing straight into the barrier.

His crash happened with just under four minutes left on the clock, leaving him at the tail end of the top 10 with Charles Leclerc, who similarly found the wall earlier in Q3.

Piastri will have a challenge on his hands to defend his championship lead from P9 on the grid, but the strong pace shown throughout Practice and the opening stages of Qualifying has reduced his concerns.

“I probably braked a little bit late – I need to go back and have a look,” he explained after the incident. “I feel like the car was good and the pace was there, so just a disappointing way to end it.

“We’ll see where Qualifying shakes out first. I’ll go back and have a look at where it all went wrong today, but I’ve been much happier with the car today which is a good thing. Hopefully we can claw back some progress tomorrow.”

His error gave McLaren team mate Lando Norris a perfect opportunity to take advantage and put himself in the best position to narrow the gap in the standings, but he could only manage to secure seventh place.

The battle for pole position ended up in a shootout in the dying minutes as Carlos Sainz, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar were initially the only drivers with times on the board. Ultimately, Max Verstappen was the sole racer who put a lap together to beat the Williams to pole position, with Norris 1.122s slower.

As Qualifying proved, the circuit walls are incredibly close and any change in the conditions can result in incidents, leaving Norris fully aware that overtaking will be the biggest challenge in tomorrow’s Grand Prix.

He said: “I would like to be on pole, of course. I just wasn’t quick enough on the final run. It was always good before, and we took the risk of trying to go first out, thinking that if there was another crash, at least I would get the lap in.

“I think it was just a lot worse for the track because it was still raining a little bit. You win some, you lose some. I’m not disappointed, let’s say, because it’s a small mistake – I hit the wall on the final lap. It was just a trickier track for me being the first one out, and I paid the price for that.

“Overtaking is pretty tough around here. We’re obviously a bit out of position and there are a few different cars ahead of us. Max has been on the pace the whole weekend. I think to try and win tomorrow is maybe a bit unrealistic, but of course we want maximum points and I need to do some overtaking.”